00:00This is your life now, which means that whoever this is, is going to keep coming for you.
00:07You ready for this?
00:09Never.
00:12All right, again, I'm Revae from Essence.
00:19So nice to meet you.
00:20Thanks for taking the time to speak with us today.
00:24Just to kick things off, I know Scream is a really iconic horror franchise.
00:29Kind of like one of those staples of horror from the 90s, you know, that kind of like set the stage for modern horror.
00:34How does it feel to be joining such an iconic franchise, essentially?
00:40It's a huge honor.
00:40I didn't understand when I first joined what the legacy was or how big of a deal it was because I wasn't raised on the movie like a lot of my castmates were.
00:50I was a bit embarrassed to admit that.
00:52But as we began filming and over the course of filming, I watched all of the films and dug into the history and quickly realized, oh, shoot, this is a really big deal.
01:01And now it's amazing seeing it start to take off already is, it's a bit overwhelming, but really exciting.
01:10Now, your character, Mindy, you kind of take the place of Brandy's character being like the horror expert, which is kind of a big deal as far as horror goes.
01:20Because in general, you know, the stereotype is that the Black character dies first, not that they really stick around or are really knowledgeable.
01:27But who you are, the most knowledgeable character, the one that knows everything about horror and how the rules go.
01:32How does it feel to be kind of adding a new twist of representation to a horror trope?
01:37It's really, it's really cool.
01:39And on top of that, Mindy, the character I play is queer, as am I.
01:43So to get to play a queer woman of color on screen who is breaking so many stereotypes is, I think, pretty iconic.
01:52But what's, but what's iconic about it is that it's not a thing.
01:56Like all of these pieces of her identity, her Blackness, her queerness, that isn't what her character is.
02:03That's not her whole personality.
02:04It's just a part of who she is.
02:06And I also feel like that's quite a reflection of her generation.
02:10Mindy would be Gen Z.
02:12I am not, but she is.
02:13And Gen Z is very, from the Gen Z that I am in relationship with, very queer, very modern, very technological, very smart, and very diverse.
02:25And so I think not only is it an awesome way to break stereotypes and set new boundaries, but it's also a reflection of the generation that she's from.
02:37And that's pretty cool.
02:37Absolutely.
02:39Now, you know, one of the cornerstones of being in these movies and being like a new scream queen is having to scream so much.
02:48Is that something that you had to practice to perfect your perfect horror scream?
02:53Or how did you get in the mode of that?
02:55I've had some practice.
02:56I've been doing a lot of horror stuff for the last, like, year or two.
03:02So I've been, I've got that screen down.
03:04And what was it like filming with your castmates and the crew?
03:08Like, what was it like being on set?
03:09What was the vibe?
03:10An absolute dream.
03:12I truly have never loved a cast this much.
03:15We all adore each other.
03:17We have a group chat.
03:17We still get together.
03:18Like, this, just this last week, myself and Mikey and Jenna, we got together and went to Vegan Exchange LA, this, like, little food truck pop-up vegan thing.
03:27And then went to our producer's house and hung out.
03:30It just immediately was a family vibe and felt like I've known these people for my whole life.
03:37And I hope to continue to know them for my whole life.
03:40And that's, that's really rare.
03:42I don't think just on a set, but in any dynamic, especially any professional dynamic with other human beings, there's generally going to be, like, a couple bad apples.
03:50There's not a single bad apple.
03:52Everyone, everyone is a red delicious.
03:54I can't believe I said that.
03:55But I did.
03:56I committed.
03:58It was cute, though.
03:59That works.
03:59Okay, good.
04:02Now, I know you mentioned you were not necessarily raised on screen, but were you much of a horror fan prior to this?
04:07And it's so, like, what would you say was your favorite horror movie?
04:11Okay, so I enjoy a psychological thriller.
04:14You know, I enjoy Get Out.
04:16I love the Get Out.
04:17And Us, I love a good Midsommar, a Hereditary.
04:22I don't really like Blood and Guts.
04:25I do not like Blood.
04:26I don't like watching people be stabbed.
04:28That's not for me.
04:29So I don't know what to tell you.
04:32So how do you deal being in a slasher film when you're so queasy about blood?
04:38It's easier on set than it is watching it.
04:41Because on set, there's, like, the machines that the two hooked up with a thing that pumps out the blood when the person gets stabbed.
04:47And, you know, it's technical.
04:50And I can see that it's fake.
04:52But in the movies, they do such a good job editing it together.
04:55I can't even, I can't watch a lot of the scenes in our movie.
04:59I have to go turn my head away.
05:01Because it's just, it's too good.
05:03It's really, really good.
05:04And there's some good kills in this movie.
05:05Yeah.
05:06How was it for you guys, actually, speaking of which, filming during the pandemic, like, having to deal with the protocols and all that on set, what was that experience like for you?
05:15It was great.
05:16This team handled it really well.
05:19One of our main producers, Sherrick, William Sherrick, he handled it beautifully.
05:25I think at the time, we were one of the first productions to go back, and we never had to shut down.
05:29The protocols were followed.
05:31And it ended up being a blessing in disguise because we were heavily encouraged to stay in our bubble of the cast and to not bring people in from outside of the bubble to stay safe.
05:43And so that really forced us to get to know each other in a really intimate way that we wouldn't have otherwise.
05:49And then in another setting, we would have had friends and family come to town.
05:52We would have taken weekend trips, flown back to L.A.
05:55That didn't happen.
05:57So we were stuck together and fortunately stuck with the most lovely, brilliant people.
06:04And we ended up, production actually rented us, like, the conference room of the hotel for the full 10 weeks or whatever that we were there.
06:11And they put beanbag chairs in there and stocked the fridge and got us a ping pong table and board games.
06:16So we would just hang out in there every day and play games and mess around and have a good time.
06:23It's a really special time in my life that I'll forever cherish.
06:27Now, you, between Scream and your other projects, I'm sure you're getting recognized a lot more in the street.
06:32What has the fan response been like and what is it like kind of being so recognizable these days?
06:37You know, because of COVID, I'm not going out.
06:41So I haven't felt the difference.
06:45What I'm noticing is more engagement online and that I really enjoy.
06:49It's really cool to see fan edits of different clips of things and to see fan art.
06:55I really love seeing that.
06:57And I love the engagement.
06:58Both the fans of both Yellow Jackets and Scream are so kind and so smart and really want to engage.
07:06And I enjoy it.
07:07And I hope for more of it.
07:09It'll be interesting.
07:10I'll answer that question a year from now when I've been out a little more if anything changes.
07:17Now, were you able to connect with a lot of or any of the cast members?
07:21I mean, I guess aside from the ones in the film, from the original Scream and kind of get their perspective on how to tackle the subject matter, how to be a Scream queen, all of that.
07:31Yeah, Nev and Courtney and David are the kindest, loveliest people and welcomed us into the franchise with open arms.
07:38And we're definitely available for questions.
07:42Yeah, I think, you know, their main advice was to have fun and to honor the legacy of Wes and the legacy of the franchise.
07:51And all of us took that very seriously.
07:53And I believe that he would be proud of the film we made.
07:58Awesome.
07:59And again, we know with your representation, you're joining like, unfortunately, not a long line of Black Scream queens, but you're kind of joining like this, I guess, Mount Rushmore of Black actresses that have been in horror movies.
08:13How does it feel to kind of be adding to that?
08:15You know, there's not really a lot of Black women in horror.
08:17I didn't really think about that, to be honest.
08:22That's really cool.
08:23The first person that comes to mind is Lupita, because she's just so iconic in us.
08:28So any sort of connection I have to her, I can retire now.
08:33You know what I mean?
08:33That's really cool.
08:35Thanks for pointing that out.
08:36I think that wraps up my question.
08:38Thank you so much for your time today again.
08:40Nice to meet you.
08:41Awesome.
08:41Nice to meet you as well.
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